FOI Response released on 04 February 2019 relating to Corporate Manslaughter charges

Freedom of Information Act 2000 Request

Request

Could you please provide me with:

1. The number of charges brought for corporate manslaughter each year since the introduction of the Act.

2. The names of all organisations charged with corporate manslaughter.

3. Whether charges were also brought under Health and Safety legislation against any of the organisations. If charges were initially brought and then dropped, please confirm this if possible.

4. Whether charges were also brought against Directors or employees of the organisation under either health and safety legislation or gross negligence manslaughter. If charges were initially brought and then dropped, please confirm this if possible.

5. The outcome of the cases (and the year of the outcome).

6. The sentences in the successful prosecutions.

Response

The offence of corporate manslaughter (and in Scotland, corporate homicide) was introduced by the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. By definition, a charge of corporate manslaughter can only be brought against an organisation (which includes government departments and crown bodies). The 2007 Act effectively absolved organisations of liability for the offence of common law manslaughter; however, individual employees can still be charged with gross negligence manslaughter. Individual employees (and organisations) can similarly be charged over the same underlying incidents leading to the death under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. You have asked for “The number of charges brought for corporate manslaughter each year since the introduction of the Act”. That information can be summarised as follows:

| Year | Cases | |------|-------| | 2008 | 0 | | 2009 | 1 | | 2010 | 0 | | 2011 | 1 | | 2012 | 1 | | 2013 | 5 | | 2014 | 6 | | 2015 | 5 | | 2016 | 5 | | 2017 | 1 | | 2018 | 2 |

The information you have requested in questions 2-6 can be found in the table on the following page.

Please note that information regarding the charges brought in each case has been taken from the formal indictment submitted by the prosecution at the start of each trial. Case outcomes refer to the corporate manslaughter offence only. In some cases, the figures given in the final column (sentences) represent the cumulative total of fines given in connection to all charges for which the organisation was found guilty.

| Name of organisation | H&S charges brought against the organisation? (Y/N) | Charges brought against Directors or employees of the organisation under either health and safety (H&S) legislation or for common law manslaughter (GNM) | Outcome of the case and year of outcome | Sentence in successful outcome | |-----------------------|---------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|-------------------------------| | Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd | Y | GNM and H&S. | Guilty - 2011 | Fined £385,000 | | Lion Steel Equipment Ltd | N | GNM and H&S | Guilty plea - 2012 | Fined £480,000 | | Princes Sporting Club Ltd | Y | H&S | Guilty plea - 2013 | Fined £134,579.79 | | Mobile Sweepers (Reading) Ltd | Y | GNM and H&S | Guilty plea - 2014 | Fined £183,000 | | Company Name | Guilty Plea | Offence | Date | Fine Amount | |--------------------------------------|-------------|---------|------------|-------------| | PS & JE Ward | Y | GNM | Not guilty - 2014 | | | MNS Mining Ltd (Fyfields) | N | GNM | Not guilty - 2014 | | | Sterecycle (Rotheram) Ltd | N | H&S | Guilty - 2014 | Fined £500,000 | | Cavendish Masonry Ltd | Y | | Guilty - 2014 | Fined £150,000 | | Peter Mawson Ltd | Y | GNM and H&S | Guilty plea - 2015 | Fined £220,000 | | Pyranha Mouldings | Y | H&S | Guilty - 2015 | Fined £200,000 | | Huntley Mount Engineering Ltd | Y | GNM | Guilty plea - 2015 | Fined £150,000 | | CAV Aerospace Ltd | Y | | Guilty - 2015 | Fined £600,000 | | Linley Developments Ltd | Y | GNM and H&S | Guilty plea - 2015 | Fined £200,000 | | Kings Scaffolding Ltd | N | | Guilty - 2015 | Fined £300,000 | | Baldwin's Crane Hire Ltd | Y | | Guilty - 2015 | Fined - £700,000 | | Cheshire Gate and Automation Ltd | N | GNM | Guilty plea - 2015 | Fined - £50,000 | | Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust | N | GNM | Judge directed acquittal - 2016 | | | Sherwood Rise | Y | GNM and H&S | Guilty plea - 2016 | Fined - £300,000 | | Bilston Skips Ltd | N | GNM and H&S | Guilty - 2016 | Fined - £600,000 | | Monavan Construction Ltd | Y | H&S | Guilty plea - 2016 | Fined - £550,120 | | Ozdil Investments | Y | H&S | Guilty - 2017 | Ozdil - fined £660,000 Koseoglu – fined £400,000 | | SR and RJ Brown | Y | GNM and H&S | Guilty - 2017 | Fined - £300,000 | | Company Name | H&S | Status | Details | |------------------------------------|-----|-----------------|--------------------------| | JTF Wholesale | Y | H&S | Not Guilty | | Master Construction Products Ltd | Y | H&S | Guilty - 2017 | Fined £225,000 | | Martinisation Ltd | Y | H&S | Guilty - 2017 | Fined £1.2m | | Roofing Consultants Ltd | Y | GNM and H&S | Awaiting trial | | Ace Waste Haulage Ltd | No | H&S | Awaiting trial |

Information Management Unit 020 3357 0899 IMU@cps.gov.uk